XP hangs Press Any Key to boot from CD

Created a bootable Windows XP SP3 CD with the ISO I got from MSDN using Nero 6.6.1.4 for the first 4 CD's and CDBurnerXP for the last 5. Yeah, that many.

I have 3 PC's I maintain personally for my whole family. PC1 was gutted and upgraded with completely new parts except for the HD and DVD/CD Rom drives. PC 2 had gotten a worm and I plan to reinstall Windows XP and reformat that PC.

PC3 was used to burn bootable CD's.

Herein lies the problem:

I've burned bootable Windows XP cd's using ISO's from MSDN numerous times before, and they all worked fine. For some reason, this time does not in both PC1 and PC2.

What does work in PC1, because it's powerful enough to handle it, is an old Windows Vista Enterprise DVD burn from MSDN.

What works in both PC1 and PC2 is an old Windows XP SP2 CD Burn in both of their CD and DVD drives. Both PC's boot that CD fine in either their DVD/CD Rom drives.

The POST will come up, then the message"Press any key to boot from CD....". I press the key, then it hangs forever.

Current Hypothesis: There's a bug in Windows XP SP3 that prevents booting from a CD. I'm seeing other people having my same problem, but I doubt anybody has actually physically tried it to see if this is the case like in this forum:http://forums.techarena.in/software...

Question: Can you burn the SP3 files located within the ISO file in Nero and still have it boot just as long as you have the important files there? Do I have to slipstream SP3 then burn it?

Any suggestions to solving this oddness is greatly appreciated. Created a bootable Windows XP SP3 CD with the ISO I got from MSDN using Nero 6.6.1.4 for the first 4 CD's and CDBurnerXP for the last 5. Yeah, that many.

I have 3 PC's I maintain personally for my whole family. PC1 was gutted and upgraded with completely new parts except for the HD and DVD/CD Rom drives. PC 2 had gotten a worm and I plan to reinstall Windows XP and reformat that PC.

PC3 was used to burn bootable CD's.

Herein lies the problem:

I've burned bootable Windows XP cd's using ISO's from MSDN numerous times before, and they all worked fine. For some reason, this time does not in both PC1 and PC2.

What does work in PC1, because it's powerful enough to handle it, is an old Windows Vista Enterprise DVD burn from MSDN.

What works in both PC1 and PC2 is an old Windows XP SP2 CD Burn in both of their CD and DVD drives. Both PC's boot that CD fine in either their DVD/CD Rom drives.

The POST will come up, then the message"Press any key to boot from CD....". I press the key, then it hangs forever.

Current Hypothesis: There's a bug in Windows XP SP3 that prevents booting from a CD. I'm seeing other people having my same problem, but I doubt anybody has actually physically tried it to see if this is the case like in this forum:http://forums.techarena.in/software...

Question: Can you burn the SP3 files located within the ISO file in Nero and still have it boot just as long as you have the important files there? Do I have to slipstream SP3 then burn it?

I'm confused. The XP CD is already bootable, so why do you need to create bootable CDs? And since you already have a bootable XP CD w/SP2, why don't you just download SP3 from Microsoft, then slipstream it into the SP2 disc by using nLite?

The only legitimate copy of Windows XP I can get is from MSDN. MSDN only offers Windows XP SP3 in ISO form. No other form is available to me.

The windows XP SP2 CD works, but the product key does not. I got the key from finding the UNATTEND.txt within the CD. The key there does not work. If I install that, the installation will hang indefinitely when it prompts for a key. I can't remember where I left the key and is most likely long gone, since I had gotten it years ago.

Slipstreaming is useless for now. True I could make an image of the Windows XP CD that does boot, slipstream it, then reburn, but it won't do any good if any CD I create won't boot. That would be a good idea under normal circumstances, but this problem is not normal at all.

I burned 8 CD's because I thought I was burning them with incorrect settings with Nero 6.6.1.4 and CDBurnerXP 4.3.7. Through process of elimination, I can only conclude I burned them correctly, and I even followed 2 different burn guides as close as possible.

Another bit of information I forgot to mention. In PC1 and PC3, if I put any of the CD's in there it will autoplay Windows XP.

I wasn't aware that the SP3 download for network use etc included the actual/complete OS as well? The version I have and from the link Mavis posted above (I got in age ago from there) doesn't have the whole OS with it... Just an ISO for sp-3 that goes to a CD/DVD in due course...?

You also say the key you have for XP doesn't work - with an actual XP setup disk etc. (and at sp2 level)? How many copoies of XP (actual setup disk do you have? Each will have its own key; althugh the version of OS may be the same... If you the asme disk to install for each PC - and have separate adn valid keys (3 in all) then as long as the keys match the type of OS going in... they "ought" to work...

Possibly you are trying to use an OEM key with a non-OEM disk; and visa-versa. If so then no way that will work... An OEM disk wants an OEM key; and non-OEM wants a non-OEM key. Problem is that on main vvendor systems the two look alike...; although once you get installation in OK and look at the info in the OS itself... the key you find does include OEM (or not accordingly). And typically those systems either come with recovery routines - with/without a disk; or in some earleir cases an actual badged/fixed vendor OEM disk.

If you have an OEM disk that isn't badged it may/will have OEM in the key sticker; and as you enter the info you have you will note the OEM is entered already in the area where you are entering the other key characters?

So what type of installation did you have; disks do you have; and likewise key types?

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